|

|
TRAVELING - NATIONAL
MONUMENTS
Perhaps the most famous US national
monument is that of a stone woman - that Statue of Liberty firmly
planted on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, a gift from the people
of France as a memorial to commemorate the 100th anniversary of
the singing of the Declaration of Independence.
The following sonnet by Emma Lazarus
titled 'The New Colossus' is inscribed on the pedestal supporting
our Mother of Exiles:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek
fame,
With conquering limbs astride from
land to land,
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates
shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose
flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and
her name
Mother of Exiles, From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome, her mild
eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin
cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied
pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your
tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming
shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost
to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden
door!"
|

|